Ubiquitome, which has partnered with the university's commercialisation arm, Otago Innovation, to sell the device to the world, yesterday announced the partnership with Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), which has headquarters in Iowa.
The partnership should mean accelerated approval for the device by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The device, dubbed Freedom4, is a brick-sized portable apparatus, which was launched in August following six years of development.
It can quickly detect the presence of viruses and bacteria, using a method called qPCR.
Previously, the diagnostic technique had been done using large machines that need to be plugged into the wall, but Freedom4 is portable, runs off battery power, and can send diagnostic results back to the lab via smartphone.
But Otago Innovation Ltd chief executive, former Labour MP Pete Hodgson, said the partnership would help validate tests run on the device.
The device without the test was ''useless''.
''You could drop it on your toe and hurt yourself, but it's not much use without a test to run on it, and this is one such test.''
IDT was the largest supplier of custom nucleic acids in the world, and nucleic acids were the building blocks for DNA.
''So what IDT is doing is helping Ubiquitome to prove its technology.
''It's a testing regime they have to go through to show the world that they can do what they say they can do.''
To get approval, Ubiquitome had to do ''two basic things''.
''They've got to prove to themselves, and to the regulators, that they are as accurate as they say they are,'' Mr Hodgson said.
''The second thing they have to do is go with those tests and other information to the Food and Drug Administration so they can enter the rapid assessment stage the FDA has set up for Ebola.''
It was hard to tell how long that might take, but the FDA was fast-tracking such applications.
In terms of financial benefits to the university, Mr Hodgson said: ''We're minor shareholders in this company now.''
However if the device was successful, ''we've entered a commercial relationship to ensure that Ubiquitome has the greatest chance of becoming a profitable company''.
To the extent that happened, ''Otago University will be a direct beneficiary''.
